The Transparent String of Fate
by MewMeori
Summary: Mizki had always lived life almost completely unnoticed. After a tragic accident, what will happen when only one person in the entire world can even see her?
1. Waking Up For The First Time

Mizki opened her eyes and quickly looked around. She found herself laying on the ground in an alley. Where...Where was she? And, more importantly, why had she been on the ground? Could she have been trying a new short cut home and ended up fainting? For now, Mizki decided it didn't matter; she decided that she should probably find the main street and ask someone where exactly she was. The girl got up and started walking down the alley, eventually finding the main street.

"E-Excuse me!" the girl said, trying to catch the attention of a passing by salesman. He didn't seem to notice her, and continued walking.

"H-Hey, wait!" she called out to him, trying once more to gain his attention. The man still didn't notice, and just walked away.

What was going on? It was like...Like she didn't even exist. Mizki was used to being unnoticed, but, this was a new low. As she went to try and get another person's attention, she noticed her school bag was gone. She could've sworn she had just had it with her. Maybe she had left it in the alley she thought...Yes, that must be where it is. It had probably gotten dropped when she fainted, or, whatever it was that happened. Mizki started walking back down the alley she had come, carefully looking for her bag.

Eventually, Mizki ended up where she had woken up, still no bag. Her blue-green eyes shone with frustration as she brushed her black hair out of her face. Where had that bag gone too?! She let out a sigh and continued walking on, little hope that she was going to find her bag at this point.

"Great, now I'm going to have to rewrite all my notes over again, redo all my work, and, oh man will Mom and Dad be pissed when they find out about thi-" she started saying to herself, but cut herself short. She had found something, but, it wasn't her bag.

She found herself, laying in the middle of the road, and in a pool of blood.

"...W-What?" Mizki let out as she looked at what appeared to be herself, her eyes were filled with horror, her mouth gaping open.

What...What was happening? Was she dreaming? How was it possible that she was laying there and looking at herself? Her eyes widened with fear when she suddenly remembered what happened before she had woken up.

She had been walking to check out a new shop that was opening before going home, taking this unfamiliar route as a short cut. As she was walking in the road to cross the street, a car came and-

"No..." she let out with a shiver.

Mizki then knelt down next to "herself" on the ground, and, hesitantly, put out a hand to touch "her" arm. Instead of making contact with the arm, her hand went right through "herself". After realizing this, she quickly pulled her hand back and looked at it closely.

"N-No..." she said, still looking at her hand.

After a moment, she spotted her school bag and tried to grab it, her hand again going through the item.

"N-No," she said to herself, her voice quivering.

The girl got up, and slowly backed away from the "her" on the ground. Once she was a few feet away, she turned around and started to run.

"No, no, no, no, no!" she said to herself, tears starting to drip from her eyes.

Mizki started to run towards a building wall at top speed. Instead of bouncing off the wall like normal, she was able to run right through the wall.

"No! No! No! No!" she half screamed, tears starting to rapidly stream down her face.

She ran out of the building and to the main street.

"Hello?! Can anyone hear me?!" she started to scream, trying to catch someone's attention, any attention at all "Can't you hear me?! Please, please hear me! Please!"

The girl fell to her knees, wrapped her arms around herself, and sobbed hard enough that her entire body shook. She had realized why no one had heard her. Why she woke up in that alley.

She was dead. The car had hit her, and killed her. Now, she was nothing but a ghost.

She didn't know how long she had been sobbing when she heard someone say

"Why are you crying?"

She quickly looked up to find a young boy staring at her.

"Why are you crying?" the boy repeated, his tone a bit impatient.

"You...You can see me?" Mizki asked, tears still in her eyes.

"Why wouldn't I be able to see you?" the boy asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

Mizki was about to explain when someone called from a distance.

"Hey, Migako!" called a boy with green hair.

"What do you want Gacha?" the original boy asked.

"What are you doing?" Gacha asked.

"Talking to this lady," the boy replied.

"What lady?" Gacha replied skeptically.

"The one right here!" the boy said angrily, pointing at Mizki.

Gacha stared at the other boy for a moment and then said

"Migako, you seriously need help," before walking away.

"...What the hell?!" the boy asked, anger in his voice "Why couldn't he see you?!"

"I-I don't know! You seem to be the only one who can see me though..." Mizki told him "You see, I'm...I'm kind of a ghost..."

"...So let me get this straight..." he started "You're a ghost and only I can see you?"

"It seems that way..." Mizki responded.

"...Yeah, sure, bye," the boy said, turning to walk away.

"N-No, w-wait, I c-can prove it!" Mizki said nervously, desperate not to lose the one person who could actually see her.

"Fine, prove it," the boy said, sounding unimpressed.

Mizki quickly walked up to a random woman on the street.

"Hey, hey, hey Miss!" she yelled at the woman, standing right in front of her "Hey Miss, hello?"

Mizki waved a hand in front of the woman's face, stared into her eyes, and even screamed in her ear, not even getting a tiny response in return. She then walked back over to the boy, who had a shocked expression on his face.

"...Ok, I believe you," the boy told her "Who the heck are you anyway?"

"I'm Mizki Viplatte," she told him "And who are you?"

"Danse Migako," the boy replied.

"Hm...You're in elementary school, aren't you?" Mizki asked.

"Y-Yeah, h-how did you-" Danse started to ask.

"Your uniform, I vaguely remember my elementary school having a similar one," she explained to him.

"O-Oh..." he said in response "What school level are you in?"

"Oh, well, I'm in High School...Or, was..." she answered sadly, remembering the situation.

The boy glanced at a clock in a store window and jumped slightly.

"I need to get home, I'm running late!" he said, shock in his voice, getting to sprint home.

"W-Wait!" Mizki said in a panic "C-Can I please come with you? You're the last person on Earth who notices me, p-please!"

"Fine, just don't cause any trouble!" the boy said, in a rush to get moving.

The two then ran, Mizki closely following the young boy. They finally stopped in front of an apartment door. Danse took a minute to catch his breath and then opened the door. The apartment was small, and there wasn't much in it. At a table close to the door was a woman sitting in a chair.

"Just barely on time," she said to him, not even looking at him "What took you so long?"

"S-Sorry Mom, I got cleaning the board today," Danse lied.

"...Fine, I'll believe you," she said, her tone cold "...But try not to cut it this close again,"

"Y-Yes Mom..." he replied, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

Mizki thought she felt a tension between the two. She quickly decided not to ask about it though and to just disregard the idea all together. She followed Danse into what she assumed to be his room. It was in the main room, but, there was a divider up, partly separating a small, old mattress from the rest of the room. Danse sat on his bed, pulled some books out of his school bag, and started to do some of his homework. After about twenty minutes, he just audibly mumbled.

"Do you know anything about this?" pointing to a math problem.

Mizki looked at the problem he was pointing to.

"Oh, I do, it's really quite simple once you know it," she told him. She then talked him through the problem until he got the correct answer.

"Thank you," he quietly mumbled.

"No problem!" Mizki said in reply, a smile on her face.

A while later, once Danse had finished most of his homework, a call came from his mother.

"Your dinner is on the table," she called from another room.

Danse walked to the table, Mizki following him. His dinner consisted of a piece of bread, and what Mizki seemed to identify as a small serving mystery meat. Mizki found this a very strange dinner, but, considering what she had seen of the apartment, they were probably a poor family with not much money to spend on things like food. Oddly enough though, Mizki had this nagging feeling that there was something more to this...

-Chapter One, End-


	2. The Lateness Penalty

It had been about a week since Mizki followed Danse home. For the first day or two, she stayed at Danse's home all day; that, unfortunately, got old quick, and she started to tag along with Danse when he went to school. It was fun, and a bit nostalgic, to be in an elementary school again. Fortunately, Danse sat at the back of his classroom, so Mizki could talk to him and help him with his work without much question on why Danse was talking to "himself".  
All in all, things had been going pretty smoothly. Well, until the first weekend came; that's when Mizki's odd feelings about the relationship between Danse and his Mother resurfaced.  
"Don't you want to go out on the weekends?" Mizki asked Danse "You know, see your friends, do fun stuff together?"  
"I can't. Mom would be mad if I wasn't asleep when she got home," Danse answered "Th-That, and, I don't really have many friends..."  
"Oh..." Mizki said quietly.  
Sure, she hadn't seen him talk to other kids much, or at least, not without using a frigid tone, but, he had to have someone he could go somewhere with.  
"...It's kinda late, isn't it? Shouldn't you be asleep?" Mizki asked curiously.  
"I like to stay up when Mom isn't home..." he quietly answered. Mizki didn't know if she was over-analyzing, but, she thought he looked a bit nervous.  
"Danse, are you ok-"  
There was suddenly a banging on the door. Danse jumped, letting out a gasp. There then came the sound of keys jingling. Danse quickly hid whatever he was doing, climbed into his bed, and pulled the covers over himself.

"Danse, what's-" Mizki started to ask, a bit afraid.

Danse quickly shushed her and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. The door then swung open, and Danse's Mother walked in. The women stumbled in and closed the door, with some difficulty, and then started stumbling towards Danse and his bed.

Mizki knew that the woman couldn't see her, but, she was still afraid, and wanted nothing more than a place to hide.

"Brat! Brat, you asleep?" the woman asked Danse, anger in her voice. After a moment of staring at Danse, she seemed to be satisfied "You better be asleep brat, if I find you awake I swear..."

Danse's Mother than stumbled away and into her room, slamming the door behind her. Mizki was horrified, her body shivering with fear.

"D-Danse, w-what-" Mizki started to ask nervously, but, Danse looked up at her, one finger over his lips. His eyes seemed to be pleading for her not to make him answer, afraid of being heard by his Mother. Mizki slowly nodded back, still frightened, but, understanding.

This time...This time, she couldn't deny or disregard her feeling that there was something not right between these two...No, there was obviously something wrong...Really wrong...

* * *

Danse was running down the streets as fast as his legs could take him, Mizki trailing behind. Even in her ghostly form, she could barely keep up with him.

"Stupid Gacha! Stupid Gacha delaying me!" Danse muttered as he ran "He's going to make me late, god-fucking-dammit!"

"Danse, it's fine! Being late doesn't matter!" Mizki told him "Besides, you're not even going to be that late!"

"N-No, I can't be late! I can't!" Danse answered, his voice seeming to shake a tad.

Mizki started to worry. She had never seen Danse run so fast before, and she could've sworn that he sounded like he wanted to cry at the thought of being late in his reply. Just what happened when Danse was late getting home? Little did she know she'd find out soon enough, regretting ever wanting to know what it was that happened.

When Danse finally reached his door, he got out his keys and opened it as fast as he possibly could and burst into his apartment. When he finally stopped, he started to pant heavily, looking like he could collapse at any moment. Once again, his Mother was waiting for him at the table near the door, in the same chair.

"You're late," she told him, her tone cold with a hint of malice.

"I-I'm, I-I'm s-sor-rry M-Mom..." he replied, still trying to catch his breath, panic in his voice.

"You know what happens when you're late," she told him, getting up from her chair.

Danse raised his head like he was going to say something, a terrified expression on his face, and then stared at the floor, giving a weary nod. His Mother then grabbed his arm and swung him into a wall, Danse letting out a pained squeak as he hit the wall. Mizki's eyes widened in horror and she became paralyzed on the spot she stood on.

His Mother, now with a few small items in her possession, pinned Danse down and started to punch, kick, scratch, and throw things at him. He didn't scream, he didn't fight back, all he did was silently cry; the entire time, all he did was silently sob as his own Mother ruthlessly tortured him. Mizki just stood there and watched it all, her eyes lit with horror, her body furiously shaking, and tears streaming down her face. She wondered how someone could do this, and felt more than guilty that she couldn't just go in and stop it.

After what felt like hours, Danse's Mother eventually stopped and stood up. She walked away, leaving the young boy on the ground, silent except for the shaky, tear-filled breaths he let out. She came back a minute or two later and threw a first-aid kit at him.

"Patch yourself up, 'can't have you dying on me, or having anyone find out," she told him in a cold, almost emotionless tone. She then went to her room and slammed the door close.

After a few moments, Mizki slowly walked over to Danse and knelt beside him.

"...D-Danse, are, a-are you...ok-k?" Mizki didn't know what else she could do. She obviously knew he wasn't ok, but, what else could she do in this situation?

Danse give a weak nod in reply. He then felt around for the first-aid kit, eventually found and grabbed it, and got himself shakily standing, his main support being the wall. He then stumbled over to his "room" and just barely made it to his bed; it seemed to be a miracle that he could even get onto his bed. Danse then opened the first-aid kit and started trying to tend his wounds.

Mizki heart broke into pieces as she watched him. Why couldn't she help him? Why couldn't she even help tend his wounds? Why did she have to be stuck in this horrible ghost-body that couldn't touch anything, her hands just passing through anything and everything she tried to touch?

After he was done as much as he could to try and patch himself up, Danse closed the first-aid kit and put it aside. He then curled up in his bed, pulled his covers around himself, and started to silently cry.

Out of all the things Mizki cursed her and her ghost-body for not being able to do, the thing she cursed the most was that she couldn't take her young friend into her arms and tell him everything would be alright, and that she couldn't just steal him away from this hell and find a place where he could be safe and happy.


End file.
